The 19 best Netflix originals
The greatest shows on Netflix, made by Netflix
The 19 best Netflix Originals
Fuelled by its vast piles of subscriber money, Netflix now wields the power of a Hollywood studio. With the resources to buy in the best new shows, acquire beloved brands, commission its own original series and hire Brad Pitt and Will Smith to star in its movies, the company is currently creating some of the best streamable stuff around. In fact, some of the best stuff around full-stop. We’ve scoured through Netflix’s hundreds of original series, documentaries and movies to pick out 19 favourites. If you’re struggling to find something brand new on which to feast your eyes, read on.
Glow
As a sport in which a 70-year-old woman once gave birth to a human hand, wrestling isn’t exactly known for its nuanced storytelling. Thankfully, Glow isn’t really about wrestling at all – it merely provides the campy backdrop to a (nuanced, yes) tale about a gang of kickass women rallying against their demons and the dudes who’d like to keep them down. Featuring a stellar lead turn by Mad Men’s Alison Brie, we think this is Netflix’s best original series since Stranger Things (incidentally, both are set in the 1980s – and both succeed at invoking very different aspects of the decade). Even if you’ve no idea of the difference between a duplex and a powerbomb, you’ll find yourself headlocked into watching in no time.
House of Cards
One of its original Originals, House Of Cards is still perhaps the jewel in Netflix’s crown. With David Fincher behind the camera and Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in front as scheming Democratic Majority Whip Frank Underwood and his equally devious wife Claire, its depiction of Capitol Hill as a cesspool of self-interested career politicians is light years away from (and let’s be honest, far more convincing than) anything you may have seen in The West Wing. It’s slickly-paced, high production value prestige TV stuff, and seeing Spacey’s Machiavellian plots unfold is a delight – even if the current occupants of the real life White House make the Underwoods look like George and Martha Washington by comparison. With five full seasons now available to stream, it’s a boxset built for binge-watching.
Marvel’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, etc.
Since snapping up the rights to make Marvel shows, Netflix has wasted no time in delivering: there are now two seasons of Daredevil and one each of Jessica Jones (pictured), Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Defenders, with a Punisher series coming later in 2017. That’s a lot of superhero goings-on right there. Yes, these are comic book adaptations and will likely do very little to convince non-comics fans of their worth, but the series are by-and-large impeccably produced, with excellent casts, effects and stunts – you won’t see better fight scenes on the small screen. They’re also aimed at adults rather than kids, with all the violence, sex and bad language we’ve come to expect from a 21st-century prestige TV show. The way each series’ characters bleed and spill over into the other shows, meanwhile, nicely mimics the way Marvel’s heroes pop up in each other’s comic runs from time to time.
Making a Murderer
Steven Avery served 18 years in prison for a horrible crime that he didn’t commit, and the revelations about the police handling of that case could be a 10-part documentary series of their own, but here that’s just the start. You see, just two years after his exoneration and release, Avery is charged with a new crime: the brutal murder of a young woman. Given the circumstances of the previous case, the local sheriff’s involvement is under serious scrutiny, and to say there are suspicious inconsistencies in the case against him would be a huge understatement. Making a Murderer is a long, sometimes slow-moving series, but it’s also fascinating, deeply troubling, and constantly capable of sending shivers down your spine.
Master of None
Comedian Aziz Ansari plays jobbing New York actor Dev in this two-season series about life, love and tacos. One suspects Ansari’s on-screen character isn’t a million miles from the real-life man (his actual parents even play his fictional parents here), and a big part of the charm is watching him work his way through various subjects – dating, religion, kids, work, racial stereotypes – over the course of the series. Some may find Master of None’s whimsy hard to stomach (although it’s far from the worst offender on Netflix for this) but it’s also funny, charming and occasionally thought-provoking.
Narcos
This critically lauded series dramatises the bloody rise of Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, along with other notable gangsters, and the gringo tasked with taking them down. Not exactly a laugh-a-minute jaunt, eh? While Narcos lacks much in the way of light relief, watching US DEA agent Steve Murphy immerse himself in a viciously amoral cesspit is a constant thrill. What could well be a high-minded exercise in true crime drama becomes nothing less than nerve-shredding nirvana via classy performances and the disturbing use of archive footage. Escobar’s brutal legacy lives on through your TV screen, and the horror of it all will make you wince in anguish. There are currently three full seasons to stream, the last having arrived in September 2017. We expect a fourth series next year.
Okja
Circumventing the traditional studio distribution model – it was released on Netflix and in selected theatres simultaneously – got this big budget drama booed by cinematic purists at the beginning of its Cannes Film Festival premiere. By the end of the screening, the same audience was giving it a four-minute standing ovation. It takes a lot to get us up off the sofa at the end of a movie, to be honest, especially for 240 full seconds of applause, but this tale of a huge genetically-modified pig, her devoted tween companion, big business and animal rights is a delight, benefitting from a fine cast (Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Paul Dano among them), brisk narrative pace and fantastic visual effects that bring Okja herself convincingly to life. Oh, and be warned: it’ll put you off sausages for a very, very long time.
Orange Is the New Black
Arguably Netflix’s second-best original series after House of Cards, this is a prison show that goes its own way: less brutal than Oz, less daft than Prison Break and more compelling than Prisoner Cell Block H, it begins as a fish-out-of-water drama (very loosely based on a true story) in which a yuppie Brooklynite winds up in a low-security women’s jail for a crime committed almost a decade previous. A character-driven show that uses Lost-style flashbacks to explore the pre-incarceration lives of the superb cast, Orange Is the New Black has proved such a hit that it’s already – like House of Cards – five whole seasons strong.
Stranger Things
Stranger Things is a love letter to many of the movies, TV shows and books that children who grew up in the 1980s will cherish: it’s replete with references to E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goonies, Stephen King, Dungeons & Dragons and Poltergeist, packed with period music, and the mood and feel is sure to dredge up nostalgia aplenty. Take away the retro vibes and the show still stands up as a fine sci-fi drama-thriller, concerning a small town, a missing boy and his friends and family’s attempts to find him. It doesn’t demand too much of a time investment, either: unlike a lot of Netflix Originals, its episodes are reasonably tight (around 40 minutes each) and there are only eight of them in the entire first season. The second season will start on October 27 2017, just in time for Halloween.
The OA
In the seven years that Prairie Johnson has been missing she’s regained her sight and apparently changed her name to ‘The OA’ – and that’s really just the start of this sci-fi drama series’ unusualness. Comparisons to Stranger Things come easily: most of the protagonists are young, and there’s a hearty helping of fantasy mixed in with the sci-fi. Those comparisons aren’t particularly favourable towards The OA, either, which lacks the coherence, charm and pace of the D&D-inspired sleeper hit. But just because The OA isn’t as good as Stranger Things doesn’t mean it’s not worth a watch (after all, what is as good as Stranger Things?). You will have to be prepared to go with some very out-there ideas and some unexpected shifts in tone. The OA definitely won’t work for everyone, but it really is worth giving at least the first of the eight episodes a go to find out if it’s up your street.
The 3%
This Brazilian series presents an intriguing concept: a world where the lucky few live in an Earthly paradise of gleaming spires and incredible technology, inhabited by beautiful people eating the best food and enjoying free healthcare – while the other 97% of the population reside in slums. To gain entrance to this paradise, poor plebs must pass a series of gruelling tests designed to separate the wheat from the chaff; it’s this process that the first season of 3% follows. It quickly goes very Battle Royale, with factions forming and alliances breaking as the desperate teens compete to earn themselves a better life. If it all sounds a bit YA fiction, don’t worry: 3% is a superior take on the genre, thanks to some well-rounded characters and a few genuine surprises. Here’s hoping it gets the second series it deserves.
13th
There’s a sequence from Netflix documentary 13th that went viral just after America elected Donald Trump as its new president. It shows the moron-in-chief eulogising the “good old days” while clips of protestors getting roughed up at his rallies are shown next to old footage of African-American citizens being beaten in the streets. It’s a powerful summary of 13th, a film that lays bare the realities of being black in modern-day America, and shows exactly how far we’ve really come since the abolition of slavery. A must-watch for anyone who thinks racism is something old-fashioned that we left in the past.
Arrested Development
Dysfunctional families have been done to death on both the big screen and TV, but the Bluths are arguably the most self-centred, destructive and, well, downright hilarious bunch of the lot. When their company is hit by the US government for embezzlement, and patriarch George imprisoned, it falls to “sensible” Bluth son Michael to both run the business and keep his squabbling siblings and mother from making matters far, far worse. Superb performances from the likes of David Cross, coupled with tonnes of re-quote potential make this a must-watch. It gets a little lost after the first three seasons thanks to the actors’ other projects clashing with filming, but it’s still well worth watching until the very end – and Netflix is promising a new season in which all the characters will be brought back together once again.
The Battered Bastards of Baseball
When organised baseball decided to move its AAA club out of Portland, actor and sports fan Bing Russell decided to fill the void with a totally independent team – the aptly-named Mavericks. This documentary charts the team’s fortunes throughout its short-lived – but colourful – career. Although they only lasted from 1973 to 1977, the Mavericks shook up the game with their antics: a ball-dog that ran onto the field, broom-waving spectators – and a string of victories that shook up the baseball establishment. “I wanted it to go back to the straw hat and beer days when 250 towns had minor league teams and most of them were not supported by a major franchise,” explains Russell; and from the outset, it’s clear where the documentary’s sympathies lie. The Mavericks are scrappy underdogs, made up of outcasts from professional baseball and amateurs who never got the big break they were hoping for. The baseball establishment are the villains, humiliated on the field and resorting to dirty tricks in search of victory. The truth is probably more nuanced, but it’s a brilliantly rousing tale, told with panache by Russell’s grandsons – and his son, actor Kurt Russell, who actually took to the field with the Mavericks.
Better call Saul
The best spinoff since Frasier puts the spotlight on Breaking Bad’s sleazy-yet-likeable lawyer Saul, in a series (now three seasons’ deep) that begins seven years before Walter White’s descent into crime and mayhem. Bob Odenkirk slips into Saul’s garish suit with remarkable ease, and his superb performance allows his character’s desperation, tenacity and humour to seep through the screen and grab our attention with both hands. It’s always easy to root for the underdog, and from the very first episode you’re right there alongside Goodman, wanting him to fight to the top – all the while being aware of the dark things to come.
Black Mirror
Black Mirror has made the move from Channel 4 to Netflix in sumptuous, unsettling style. Not only has the platform given Charlie Brooker and his team the freedom to tell more stories (the first Netflix-funded season has six episodes rather than the usual three), it’s also given them a budget big enough to expand the scale, scope and special effects. The feature-length final episode, “Hated in the Nation”, is a perfect case in point. What hasn’t changed is the overall theme: the perils of humanity’s relationship with technology, the internet and social media. It’s unnerving stuff, enhanced by the fact that the stories are generally set in a very near future that’s all too recognisable. But fear not, the trademark blacker-than-black humour has also been retained, so you’ll guffaw almost as much as you’ll squirm. This is must-see television for anyone who’s obsessed with tech. And as a bonus, the first two seasons can be found on Netflix too.
BoJack Horseman
This animated sitcom features Arrested Development’s Will Arnett as the titular Horseman, a… er… “horse man” who found fame in a beloved 1990s sitcom but now lives in a haze of booze and self-loathing. Set in a skewed version of Hollywood where humans coexist with anthropomorphic animals, BoJack Horseman features a strong cast (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul plays BoJack’s best friend Todd), and offers a surprisingly nuanced portrayal of the “washed-up former star” trope. Most importantly, perhaps, it’s really, really funny. With 50 episodes available (four seasons plus two specials), its perfect for bingeing.
Chef’s Table
It might not feature Greg Wallace shovelling food into his maw every ten minutes, but that doesn’t make Chef’s Table any less appealing to hardcore foodies. This documentary series (now three seasons strong) follows world-renowned chefs as they take viewers on a personal journey through their culinary evolution, providing an intimate, informative glimpse into what gets their creative juices flowing. Presented in pristine 4K, you can almost smell the food seeping through your screen and tickling your nostrils; from glistening, perfectly-cooked pieces of meat to mouth-watering steaming pasta dishes, this is food porn of the highest order. Wearing a bib while you watch is highly recommended.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
This comedy-drama-thriller loosely based on Douglas Adams’ novels is like nothing else on TV. In fact it’s like nothing else in the world – and is all the better for it. As a “holistic” detective, Dirk Gently simply investigates crimes he happens across randomly and follows the most obscure and seemingly unconnected of leads as he does so. What transpires is a gloriously muddled mess of offbeat diversions, Technicolor characters and bizarre events taking in psychic powers, cats, dogs, homicidal angels, torture, some really lovely leather jackets and Elijah Wood. Best absorbed in a couple of lengthy sittings – the series is too confusing, and too good, to watch piecemeal.
